


First Burn

by HeartOfGold15



Category: Eddsworld, Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Cheating, Crossover (Kind Of?), Ellsworld AU, F/M, First Burn, Hamildrop, Hamilton - Freeform, Songfic, saloonatics au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 15:21:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14855282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartOfGold15/pseuds/HeartOfGold15
Summary: Someone has kidnapped the prince, and it's up to one of the detective academy's best graduates to save him. After learning that Prince Matthew was last sighted in the United States, detective Ell Gould makes her way there and begins her search. A love blooms between them upon the prince's rescue - they're quick to return home and get married. But what awaits them after the happily ever after?(Based off the song "First Burn" from the Hamildrop album.)





	First Burn

**Author's Note:**

> I fell in love with this song as soon as I heard it, and I’ve been dying to write some EddMatt au- I was initially thinking EddMatilda because another fic I’ve been writing has made me obsessed with that pairing, but lyrically I think EllMatt makes more sense (I see Matt as being more like Alexander than Edd, and Ell more like Eliza than Matilda.) This is also the Saloonatics AU, just because :) I hope you enjoy!

_I saved every letter you wrote me… from the moment I saw you, I knew you were_ **_mine_** _._

It had all started when Ell was still young and optimistic. She had just graduated from the academy a year ago, and was already on her way to being the greatest detective England had ever seen. When she was asked to handle the case of the missing prince, she readily agreed. They gave her a photograph - and her eyes lit up as she looked at it.

 _You said you were_ **_mine_** _._

It didn’t take Ell long to find the prince. She went to the States after receiving a tip that it was the last place Prince Matthew was seen. With some help from the local sheriff, she rescued him and put the kidnappers where they belonged - in jail. Afterwards, they had some time to talk. She introduced herself, and she couldn’t help but notice the way he looked at her. It made her heart feel as if it was going to explode from her chest.

“How can I thank my savior?” the prince asked, a light laugh at the end of his question. She knew exactly what she wanted - would she be bold enough to ask for it?

It seemed the answer was yes.

 _I thought you were_ **_mine_** _._

They returned to England and were married within a few weeks. It took some convincing for both sets of parents to agree, but when they did, they put their all into planning the wedding. Neither of the two young lovers wanted to wait, especially not Matthew - he seemed to be head over heels. Some disapproved, but Ell merely stuck her tongue out at them. They would never understand.

One of the people who disapproved was her very own sister, and for good reason, it turned out.

 _Do you know what_ **_Tamara_ ** _said when I told her what you'd_ **_done_** _?_

When Ell heard the news, she couldn’t believe it. Matthew. Her very own Matthew. Her Prince Charming… he had cheated on her? The first thing she did was go home to her family. Her parents comforted her, while Tamara had nothing but words of blame, telling her she was foolish to get married to someone she had only met recently. Ell’s tears only fell harder.

 _She said, "you have married an_ **_Icarus_ ** _\- he has flown too close to the_ **_sun_** _."_

Indeed, Matthew had flown too close to the sun, and soon he would be burned by the bitter words and harsh actions of the woman he had hurt. His mistakes would lead to his downfall, and he was looking for any way to prevent it, including trying to reason with Ell’s broken heart. She was having none of it.

 _Don't take another step in my direction; I can't be_ **_trusted_ ** _around you._

“Darling, I’m _sorry_ ,” Matthew crooned. When he went to move closer, Ell shoved him away. A look of hurt shone in his puppy eyes, and despite her best efforts, Ell felt something inside her soften - but on the outside she stayed hard as stone.

 _Don't think you can talk your way into my arms,_ **_into my arms_** _._

“Sorry? You think you can fix this with _sorry_?” Hot tears flowed down her cheeks as she ranted. “Did you ever even love me, Mattie?” A sob escaped her lips, and it was soon followed by another. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if the action could shield her from the pain of it all. 

 _I'm_ **_burning_ ** _the letters you wrote me. You can stand over there if you want._

When she finally picked herself up off the floor and moved, Matthew interpreted it as a good sign. She wiped her tears away and went for a pile of papers that the prince soon recognized after she began to read the first one. “Dear Ell…”

 _I don't know who you are. I have so much to_ **_learn_** _…_

“What hogwash,” she exclaimed after reading the first letter aloud. “Lies. All of it.” Before Matthew could convince her otherwise, she tossed the paper into the lit fireplace, watching it be consumed by the miniature sun within.

 _I'm re-reading your letters and watching them_ **_BURN_** _._

Soon the whole stack of letters was aglow, feeding the ravenous red-orange fire. She had originally planned to painstakingly read each one out loud, but when Matthew’s interruptions became a constant, her rage consumed her and she tossed all of them in.

 _You_ **_published_ ** _the letters she wrote to you._

“How could you?” That was Ell’s reaction when she found a series of excerpts in the newspaper, of which the author claimed they were from letters between the prince and his mistress. Matthew tried to deny it, but Ell was prepared for that. She had gone through his possessions and matched the excerpts to letters he had in his drawers. “And you said this was business!” She slammed her first down on the table.

 _You told the whole world how you brought this girl into our_ **_bed_** _._

Ell felt disgusted as she read the messages. In them were explicit sex acts she couldn’t even imagine; to think that her husband had such a side to him… It was hard to imagine when everything between them, despite being passionate, was so ordinary in comparison.

_In clearing your name, you have ruined our lives._

Now she was known as the disgraced wife of a perverted prince, though thankfully the newspapers had censored the worst of it. Still, that left quite a bit to the public’s eye, more than she would have preferred. Ell begged him to explain why - not why he had the affair, but why he had to expose it to the world.

“You’d never understand…” he whispered, trailing off.

“Try me,” she replied between gritted teeth.

“I was being framed for something I didn’t do. These letters, they were the only way to prove I was doing something else at the time!” Matthew sounded exasperated.

 _Heaven forbid someone whisper, "He's part of some_ **_scheme_** _."_

“More like doing _someone_ else.” Salty tears seeped from Ell’s eyes once more, and she was quick to wipe them away like they never existed. “You didn’t have to do this. Stop acting like you had to do this.” 

“But Ell-”

 _Your enemy whispers so you have to_ **_SCREAM!_  **

“NO!” she shouted, then broke into sobs. “You never had to do any of this. What would it have cost you to just be faithful, Matthew? You _promised_ me.” She took a deep breath. “Tamara was right. I never should have married you.” This time, when Ell saw the hurt in his eyes, she didn’t care.

 _I know about whispers - I see how you look at my_ **_sister_ ** _…_

Speaking of Tamara… “I should have known from the beginning, huh?”

“Known what?”

“That you were a cheating _pig_!” Ell screeched, shaking with unbridled emotion. She felt she could collapse at any moment, but stood her ground. 

“Ell, you sound like a _lunatic_.” 

 _Don't! I'm not_ **_naive._ ** _I have seen women around you._

That was the last straw.

“You think I haven’t seen how you interact with girls? You smooth talker! When you did it with others I thought it was just the prince act, but when you did it with me - I was stupid enough to fall for it! To think you were being GENUINE!”

 _Don't think I don't see how they fall for your charms,_ **_all your charms!_  **

“I see now you’ve been manipulative from the very beginning.” Her eyes were red from crying, and tears still streamed down her cheeks. “Why me? Huh?”

Matthew was silent.

_I'm erasing myself from the narrative…_

“I guess I’ll never know.” She found a bag and began to pack her most important things. Already, her mind was screaming at her to stop, to forgive him, to stay - but she pushed the thoughts away.

 _Let future historians wonder how Ell reacted when you_ **_broke her heart._  **

She felt a hand on her shoulder suddenly. “Please, Ell.” A heartbroken voice.

 _You have thrown it all away. Stand back, watch it_ **_burn._  **

“No. No ‘please, Ell.’ You don’t have the bloody right anymore.” Her voice was harder than a rock and sharper than a knife. It pierced his soul, but nothing like he had pierced hers with his betrayal.

 _Just watch it all_ **_burn_** _…_

She took one last look at the fireplace.

 _And if you thought you were_ **_mine_** _…_

Then… one last look at him. Her life was going to be better from now on. She was sure of it. As she walked away, her bag in hand, she didn’t dare look back.

**_Don't!_ **

  


**Author's Note:**

> If you didn't catch on: Tamara was Ell's sister in this fic. Also, I felt like throwing in Matt being a deviant just because I could :p hey, it makes him more villainous, right? Poor Ell. Anyway, I hope you liked this. It was just a break from everything else I've been writing, really. Feel free to comment and, if you are so inclined, leave me a kudos :)


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